There is increasing interest in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) as a renewable source of electrical energy. OTEC uses the ocean's natural thermal gradient to generate power. In geographical areas with warm surface water and cold deep water, the temperature difference can be leveraged to drive a steam cycle that turns a turbine and produces power. Warm surface sea water passes through a heat exchanger, vaporizing a low boiling point working fluid to drive a turbine generator, thereby producing electricity. Unfortunately, one challenge with OTEC is the need for a cold water pipe (CWP) that must be capable of drawing large volumes of water from deep in the ocean up to the surface.
A CWP used in OTEC is very long and has a large diameter. For example, a CWP may be 4 meters (m) in diameter and more than 1000 m in length. Conventional CWPs are built in situ by coupling smaller segments of pipe together to form a CWP of a desired length, or by molding the segments of pipe at a deep water location and assembling them as they are molded. There are many problems with conventional CWP building techniques, including the amount of time it takes to build such a pipe and the amount of space it takes to mold the segments of pipe. These problems alone can make OTEC impractical for many otherwise suitable applications. Accordingly, a CWP manufacturing technique that avoids these issues would be beneficial.